I believe that statement is wrong. The fans can and should be heard. There is something small and easy we can do to make our voice heard or limit the voice of the NHL and the players. I will get to this shortly. We the fans love this game, we are passionate about it, we eat, sleep and breathe it, and we support it with our hard earned dollars. It is a funny thing being a fan, or more appropriately, a fanatic. We are so emotionally invested in the performance of teams and players that we rarely have any true connection with. It just helps us to believe that besides playing for the love of the game (and making more money in one year at league minimum than most fans will make in a lifetime) that they appreciate us and our devotion.

What really bothers me about this lockout is that once the puck finally drops whether it be at the beginning of a shortened season or next season, I will go right back. I also know I won’t be going back alone. We just love this sport too much. It is part of our upbringing, culture and lives. Sure some fridge fans will leave and the small market teams will definitely be hurting but the big market teams and most teams in Canada will be fine as soon as the season begins. Our inevitable return makes me angry but I know it will happen and you know it will too. Why do they get to know we are coming when they need us but they don’t come when we need hockey? You feel helpless because we are allowing the league to continually have labour disputes because we just love the sport too much. It’s a fantastic sport that has never been better we love it too much not to go back to it. Being a hockey fan is a way of life.

Social Media has been booming since the last lockout and has revolutionized the business. Players and teams have Facebook and Twitter accounts and as a result fans have never felt so close to their favorite team or players. It gives insight to the life of an NHL player and their team and organization as a whole. It gives you something fun to read each and every day. The most amazing part is we can actually communicate with our heroes.

If you have not realized where I am headed, my simple solution for the fans to stop following NHL players and teams. It may seem like nothing but each follower has a value associated with them. Just like we are all dollar signs to the NHL and NHLPA. Just like any business there is a cost per interaction and a cost linked to how many followers you have. It helps drive sales, gets fans into the seats, and promotes hockey merchandise that a player has a stake in. It has taken these teams and players years to get to the level of followers they currently have so if we all decide to un-follow, unlink or insert any relevant social media term here we can actually make a difference. We can show them that the fans have a voice and that the fans are fed up with the NHL/NHLPA. Trust me they do care about how many followers they have.

Do we really need to follow the players on twitter during a lockout? I am sorry but the stuff they are posting shows that we do not need to feel sorry for them and they seem to be enjoying their time off. They are not being hurt by this lockout they are going to Vegas, Chicago for Ryder Cup, playing golf, and having an all-around good time. Fans do not want to see what you do on your free time when they work 9-5 jobs that pay very little and are not enjoyable and fulfilling they want to see you play hockey because yes you are exceptionally talented and deserve the money you make in the NHL but you should be playing in the NHL not Europe. What does that show? You don’t care about taking someone else’s job that makes pennies compared to you? These players who are losing jobs need to support a family. What about people’s businesses and livelihoods that rely on the NHL? Bar and restaurant owners will have empty seats and they will require less staff, removing jobs from our fragile economy and money from the pockets of people who actually need to make more money.

Team twitter accounts are where there is a real dollar figure associated with followers. Promotions can reach a huge audience in seconds. Companies can get you in their CRM (definition?) database with one small promotion. There is tremendous value to an organizations follows and if we reduce that number substantially they will notice. The big business owners will take notice when their social media groups are losing fans left right and center. We do not want to hear from our favourite teams unless there is a season!

Sure we may all go back and follow players and teams as soon as a CBA is agreed upon, but we can show the league that the fans have a voice and they want to be heard. This is not the previous lockout this is a lockout in 2012 where FANS DO HAVE A VOICE!

THE FANS ARE SICK OF THE LABOUR DISPUTES! THIS IS THE FAULT OF BOTH THE OWNERS AND PLAYERS. WE DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR PR MOVES!

I already unfollowed NHL, NHLPA, and all players. I understand where you are coming from and I already went down the road you suggested when the lockout started. None of these people deserve your support at this stage.

Still, unless absolutely everyone in on tiwitter were on board with this, and we all stopped following at the same time, they wouldn't even notice. Yeah they will probably lose a few hindered followers here and there, but they will be back following as soon as this new CBA is put in place.

I dont follow any twitter accounts, but I very much agree with the idea. I would love to see the first games to be played in empty seats once the lockout is over, just as a message from the fans! It will never happen, but still it is a wonderful thought, because money is all that matters to these people.

"Joey (Kocur) has no fear" -Lyndon Byers"Empty-net goals are for homos" -Al Iafrate

I believe that statement is wrong. The fans can and should be heard. There is something small and easy we can do to make our voice heard or limit the voice of the NHL and the players. I will get to this shortly. We the fans love this game, we are passionate about it, we eat, sleep and breathe it, and we support it with our hard earned dollars. It is a funny thing being a fan, or more appropriately, a fanatic. We are so emotionally invested in the performance of teams and players that we rarely have any true connection with. It just helps us to believe that besides playing for the love of the game (and making more money in one year at league minimum than most fans will make in a lifetime) that they appreciate us and our devotion.

What really bothers me about this lockout is that once the puck finally drops whether it be at the beginning of a shortened season or next season, I will go right back. I also know I won’t be going back alone. We just love this sport too much. It is part of our upbringing, culture and lives. Sure some fridge fans will leave and the small market teams will definitely be hurting but the big market teams and most teams in Canada will be fine as soon as the season begins. Our inevitable return makes me angry but I know it will happen and you know it will too. Why do they get to know we are coming when they need us but they don’t come when we need hockey? You feel helpless because we are allowing the league to continually have labour disputes because we just love the sport too much. It’s a fantastic sport that has never been better we love it too much not to go back to it. Being a hockey fan is a way of life.

Social Media has been booming since the last lockout and has revolutionized the business. Players and teams have Facebook and Twitter accounts and as a result fans have never felt so close to their favorite team or players. It gives insight to the life of an NHL player and their team and organization as a whole. It gives you something fun to read each and every day. The most amazing part is we can actually communicate with our heroes.

If you have not realized where I am headed, my simple solution for the fans to stop following NHL players and teams. It may seem like nothing but each follower has a value associated with them. Just like we are all dollar signs to the NHL and NHLPA. Just like any business there is a cost per interaction and a cost linked to how many followers you have. It helps drive sales, gets fans into the seats, and promotes hockey merchandise that a player has a stake in. It has taken these teams and players years to get to the level of followers they currently have so if we all decide to un-follow, unlink or insert any relevant social media term here we can actually make a difference. We can show them that the fans have a voice and that the fans are fed up with the NHL/NHLPA. Trust me they do care about how many followers they have.

Do we really need to follow the players on twitter during a lockout? I am sorry but the stuff they are posting shows that we do not need to feel sorry for them and they seem to be enjoying their time off. They are not being hurt by this lockout they are going to Vegas, Chicago for Ryder Cup, playing golf, and having an all-around good time. Fans do not want to see what you do on your free time when they work 9-5 jobs that pay very little and are not enjoyable and fulfilling they want to see you play hockey because yes you are exceptionally talented and deserve the money you make in the NHL but you should be playing in the NHL not Europe. What does that show? You don’t care about taking someone else’s job that makes pennies compared to you? These players who are losing jobs need to support a family. What about people’s businesses and livelihoods that rely on the NHL? Bar and restaurant owners will have empty seats and they will require less staff, removing jobs from our fragile economy and money from the pockets of people who actually need to make more money.

Team twitter accounts are where there is a real dollar figure associated with followers. Promotions can reach a huge audience in seconds. Companies can get you in their CRM (definition?) database with one small promotion. There is tremendous value to an organizations follows and if we reduce that number substantially they will notice. The big business owners will take notice when their social media groups are losing fans left right and center. We do not want to hear from our favourite teams unless there is a season!

Sure we may all go back and follow players and teams as soon as a CBA is agreed upon, but we can show the league that the fans have a voice and they want to be heard. This is not the previous lockout this is a lockout in 2012 where FANS DO HAVE A VOICE!

THE FANS ARE SICK OF THE LABOUR DISPUTES! THIS IS THE FAULT OF BOTH THE OWNERS AND PLAYERS. WE DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR PR MOVES!

JOIN THE PROJECT AND UNFOLLOW NHL PLAYERS AND TEAMS!

Twitter-@UnfollowhockeyEmail-unfollowhockey@hotmail.com

We need to get Bettman fired and the only way to do that is to boycott spending money on the NHL until he is. He is the worst thing to ever happen to the game of hockey

NHL fans have been screaming for the removal of Bettman for almost 2 decades now. Most good businesses know that the most important aspect of their business is their customer. Bettman and&#65279; the owners are oblivious because they are too arrogant to think anyone is more important than them.The NFL knows thisJim Irsay, owner of the Colts, tweeted, "Let's be clear,when our NFL Fans talk,we listen..if you're unhappy,we're unhappy...we're here 2 serve U..everything we do is to please YOU!

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

I see where you're going with this, but unfollowing players on social media sites isn't really going to help anything. They don't make any money from updating their Twitters and Facebooks (as far as I know, anyway), they make money from fans parking their butts in the seats and buying their team's merchandise. If you really want to make the fans' voices heard, don't spend any money on anything after the lockout is over. Only real way to make a statement.

I see where you're going with this, but unfollowing players on social media sites isn't really going to help anything. They don't make any money from updating their Twitters and Facebooks (as far as I know, anyway), they make money from fans parking their butts in the seats and buying their team's merchandise. If you really want to make the fans' voices heard, don't spend any money on anything after the lockout is over. Only real way to make a statement.

I think unfollowing on Twitter is a symbolic gesture. At this point any large protest would be good.

But overall I agree. The important part though is to let the owners know you won't be spending money on their franchise. By phonecall, email, letter whatever.

Make the clear threat and then follow up on it. I'd even list the all the things you've spent money on in the past. All the red wings merchandise, tickets to games, NHL package on cable, beer, parking. Anything you can think of that would put money in Mr. I's pocket.

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

I'll join in. The only thing I won't do is unlike the Red Wings on facebook (but I will unfollow them on Twitter) out of respect to Mr. I and Holland, or unlike and unfollow past players. For example I follow DMac on Twitter, and like Yzerman, Ozzie, and Holmstrom on Facebook. I won't unfollow or unlike them, because this has nothing to do with them.

The only thing that matters here is money, and like others have said, unfollowing NHL or some player or whoever won't amount to much or help solve the lockout issue.
Some folks suggest boycotting the NHL altogether, but that isn't viable either. We all understand just how passionately we love the game, and the moment the Wings take the ice again, everyone will be watching and spending money on memorabilia. Besides, a boycott punishes us as fans moreso than the big guys at the top, whose wallets are already quite stuffed.

As fans there is very little we can realistically do that will echo into the upper tiers of NHL management. But we aren't completely hopeless. Despite what they may want us to think, the NHL does not have a monopoly on hockey. There are other leagues around that can provide good entertainment. Instead of sitting the year out as a fan, stay invested in the game, but turn your attention (fully) to the Griffins, or the Whalers or whoever tickles your fancy. Spend the same amount of money on tickets as last year. You'll go to more games and have better seats! Buy a jersey and a hotdog on hotdog night. Go out to a local restaurant or bar before the game. Help the local economy.
If we're very very lucky and enough dollars are put into other leagues, it may remind the NHL and/or players how much their losing, and may entice them to reach an agreement sooner (although admittedly not likely). At the very least, us as fans still get to enjoy quality hockey, and check out some top prospects while we're at it, and maybe some of us will start a lifelong fandom into a totally new league. There's also the plus of helping out the local economy and financially backing some of these smaller teams. You would be spending all that money on the NHL anyway, so why not?
I know I'm already planning to take the 2.5 hour drive to Grand Rapids to catch the Griffins play a few games this year. If FSN gets enough votes the Griffins games will be televised, too (there's another thread floating around where you can cast your vote). I'll be staying at a hotel and eating at the local hot spots when I visit, and I'll be spending about as much as I would spend in Detroit if a lockout wasn't occurring.